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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26183140">Growing Pains</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra'>chimaeracabra</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Family Fluff, Menstruation, Puberty, Teen Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:07:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,066</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26183140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky's daughter becomes a young lady.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>bucky barnes/original female characters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Growing Pains</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/2799851">Secrets Aren't for Keeping</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimaeracabra/pseuds/chimaeracabra">chimaeracabra</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm tired of working on my thesis. So, I write shit in between.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            As she wakes up in the middle of the night with horrible stabbing sensations below her navel and struggles to roll over in bed, Christina remembers being eight or nine years old and walking into her mom and dad’s room to find Bucky sitting behind Cherise in their bed while holding a heating pad over Cherise’s abdomen, and a second one against her lower back. This would happen routinely every month or so, and whenever she would ask why mommy was in pain, her father would try to explain to her that it was something she would understand a little bit later when she became a woman. Her parents had the birds and bees talk with her around that age.</p><p>          She had asked when she was even younger where babies came from, especially when her little brother came along. Christina would place her little hands on her mother’s large stomach and ask her where her little brother came from. She didn’t really understand it when Bucky explained that mothers were gardens for which dads had seeds to plant their new babies, but she thought it made more sense than the stork her parents had told her about the first time she asked about babies. Having recently turned sixteen years old, Christina had been getting consistent periods for only a few months now. She remembers getting her first one in school when she was in gym class…</p><p>          That morning, she had been feeling an annoying dull pain in her lower back, and she had snapped at her parents for splitting the last cinnamon raisin bagel at breakfast time. She’d made such a huge fuss over it that her father promptly drove her to Dunkin’ Donuts before dropping her off at school. Christina had always been a moody child, prone to temper tantrums when she was little, but her attitude and anger seemed to worsen with age. To the point where her parents forced her to go to weekly therapy with a psychiatrist.</p><p>            “You okay, peanut?” Bucky asked as she scarfed down the bagel with butter slathered on it in the back seat. He kept looking at her in the rearview mirror, and it was starting to grate on her nerves. She sighed with irritation and just ate in silence. When Bucky parked in front of her school and got out to open the door for her, she lost it again.</p><p>            “Dad! I asked you to stop parking <em>right</em> in front—people are always <em>staring </em>at your arm!”</p><p>            “Huh? No, they’re not,” Bucky chuckled. He knew this to be false, however. He just didn’t think about parking farther away, something Christina started asking him to do when she started high school about a year ago. She hastily got out of the car, dragging her heavy backpack with her. She winced when it made the ache in her lower back worse. She’d had a biology exam coming up in the afternoon and had been taking the heavy text home every night to study. On her way out of the car, she knocked into her father and grumbled. His heavy metal grip around her upper arm stopped her dead in her tracks. She looked up at her dad with wide eyes, his hand shimmering in the morning sun.</p><p>            “<em>Daddy</em>,” she muttered, a handful of freshman boys gossiping as they paused walking by to stare in amazement at Bucky’s prosthetic.</p><p>            “Hey, kid. What the hell’s goin’ on with you this morning?” Bucky asked with raised eyebrows. Her father could only take so much of her attitude at times. She knew she was the only one who could actually get away with talking to Bucky like that, most of the time. Christina rolled her eyes.</p><p>            “I don’t <em>know</em>. I was hungry and you and mom ate my bagel!” Christina whispered impatiently. Bucky smiled.</p><p>            “I got you a bagel, peanut. Did you forget about the donuts?” he asked, releasing her arm and opening the passenger’s side door to reach into the car and hand her the rest of the munchkins he’d ordered as well. Christina takes the box and immediately pulls one out, the white dust of one of the sugary baked goods staining the corner of her mouth. Bucky laughed under his breath. She rolled her eyes again, then paused chewing to glare at the gaggle of boys as one of them asked Bucky, “Is that real?” while pointing at his arm.</p><p>            “Ugh,” Christina sighed, starting off.</p><p>            “You’re welcome! I love you, too,” Bucky called after her, which only made her walk faster. She knew everyone knew things about her dad, the infamous Winter Soldier, the Howling Commando, Captain America’s BFF. She hated it when kids who otherwise never even talked to her would ask her questions about her dad and uncle, if she ever got to spend time at the Avenger’s facility, etc. She figured it was something she was going to have to deal with her whole life. Her dad was unequivocally tied to one of the country’s greatest national heroes after all. During gym class, not long before lunch time, Christina had jumped to spike a volley ball. When she landed, her best friend Michelle pulled her aside by the collar rather abruptly with wide eyes. The jump seemed to trigger her back ache again, which was only getting worse as the day progressed. Christina reminded herself that she’d better leave her heaviest textbooks in her locker tonight and just use the online textbooks for the next couple of days.</p><p>            “What is it, ‘chelle?” Christina asked. Michelle had cleared her throat and looked down at Christina’s shorts. She did this a couple of times, and Christina’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.</p><p>            “What?”</p><p>            “Ms. Dunn—we have to use the bathroom,” Michelle chimed. The gym teacher was already on her way over and was staring at Christina’s shorts.</p><p>            “Oh, Christina. I’m afraid those are going to need soaking,” Ms. Dunn said quietly, before blowing her whistle to call a foul, “But there should be an extra pair of uniform shorts for the away game. I’ll get you a pair by the end of the week. Don’t worry.” Christina still couldn’t understand what was going on until Michelle pulled her into the bathroom and turned her so that her back was facing the mirror. Christina glanced behind herself to see a rather large dark stain. She gasped when she saw it, lifting her right leg to glance between her thighs where the stain was getting larger. She had been so into the game that she hadn’t felt it. Suddenly, the teen is thankful that she was on the girls’ volleyball team, which meant no boys had been around to witness this embarrassing accident.</p><p>            “Oh my fucking god. I…I don’t…”</p><p>            “It’s okay, Stina. I have some tampons. You can have a few. Just take a shower.”</p><p>Michelle grinned and started for her locker. Christina had never used a tampon before. She knew what they were, but she didn’t know the first thing about inserting them. She figured this finally explained her back pain. It was getting worse, amazingly. She took her time in the shower with heat while Michelle chatted with her casually from behind the curtain, explaining to her how easy it was to use tampons. But Christina wasn’t convinced. She thought they might be uncomfortable. The fact that she was still a virgin only made her more anxious about using one.</p><p>            She cried quietly in the shower, hoping Michelle wouldn’t notice the subtle change in her voice. Everything felt so overwhelming all of the sudden. Christina recalled seeing her mom in bed again with heating pads, her dad stroking her hair, and she didn’t want to imagine she would suffer the same degree of pain every month for the rest of her childbearing years. She figured that if her mom suffered badly enough that she couldn’t get out of bed to make dinner once a month, she would too.</p><p>            “Stina, what’s wrong?” Michelle asked, peaking into the shower. Christina hastily rubbed her eyes.</p><p>            “I yelled at my dad this morning, and he was just trying to be nice. All I wanted was a bagel, and he went to get me one from Dunkin Donuts, but I was being such a bitch to him…I just want some spicy cheetos…I don’t know,” she shrugged. Michelle smiled.</p><p>            “It happens to the best of us. My mom said the cravings are normal, and some women get really bitchy around this time of the month. It’s not your fault. It’s called P-M-S.” Michelle handed Christina a towel. By now, the locker room was starting to fill with other girls. Some of them started talking about how embarrassed they would be if their period started during a game in front of everyone, which only made Christina feel worse. She was in the stall trying to figure out a tampon and couldn’t manage. She was worried she was doing it wrong and just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Despite Michelle encouraging her on the other side of the door, Christina gave up and wrapped toilet paper around a pair of clean underwear repeatedly, creating a makeshift pad. When the gym teacher came in and asked her if she was okay, Christina refused to ask for a pad. She just let Michelle think she was successful with the tampon and tried to make her way to lunch.</p><p>            The pain in her back was getting progressively worse. And as Michelle retold Christina’s story to Diane and a few of her other friends, Christina started to tune out. She excused herself to walk into the bathroom and called her mom. But she got Cherise’s voicemail and started to leave a message. She couldn’t understand why she was feeling so upset and just cried into her mother’s mailbox, telling her what happened during gym class and how embarrassed she was. She had to stand in the stall and collect herself before returning to her friends, who were talking about sex now. Something Christina still hadn’t caught up to them with and it made her feel rather left out. She figured that if she couldn’t even handle a stupid little tampon, there was no way she was going to handle a penis. She felt like a loser.</p><p>            Her phone started buzzing in her pocket. With relief, she thought that maybe it was her mom returning her call. She frowned upon seeing her father’s number on the screen. She picked up anyway, hiding her phone under her long hair.</p><p>            “What is it, dad?” she sighed.</p><p>            “Your mother got your message, but she’s heading into a meeting.”</p><p>Christina’s heart drops and she pales. Cherise had told <em>Bucky </em>the whole thing?!</p><p>            “Do you want me to come get you, peanut?” Bucky asked. She knew he was at work, too. But he could pretty much leave whenever he wanted to. He owned the gym he worked at, and Cherise must have asked him to pick her up out of convenience.</p><p>            “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Christina says blankly, praying her mother didn’t give him such specific details.</p><p>            “Baby girl, your mom told me you’re in a lot of pain.”</p><p>Christina sighs.</p><p>            “It’s okay. Your mom and I have been waiting for this day. You’re a little late—”</p><p>            “Dad, I have an exam after lunch. I can’t leave right now.”</p><p>            “Okay. Do you want me to get you after your test? Just tell me what time it ends, peanut.”</p><p>Her dad’s voice is so full of care and concern which causes Christina’s eyes to water a little bit. She was feeling so emotional.</p><p>            “I dunno, dad.”</p><p>            “You can always go to the nurse and ask her for a sanitary napkin—”</p><p>            “Dad,” she interrupts, not wanting anyone to hear the conversation. She lowers the volume on her phone abruptly.</p><p>            “Sweetie, I’m just trying to help you. Go to the nurse and ask her if they have Pamprin. That always helps your mother.”</p><p>            “If they have what?” Christina asks.</p><p>            “It’s acetaminophen, baby. I know they’ll give you something if you just ask.”</p><p>Christina sighs.</p><p>            “Are you sure you don’t want me to come get you and take you home? You can just say you’re sick. I’m sure the teacher will let you take the exam later. What time is your test?”</p><p>            “It’s at one. But I studied <em>so </em>hard for this exam, and I just want to get it over with,” Christina explains, breaking down again.</p><p>            “Baby, you don’t sound so good. Let me come get you—”</p><p>            “<em>No</em>. No, daddy. I’m fine. I have to go. I’m not supposed to be on my phone right now.”</p><p>She hangs up and her friends are looking at her now, sympathetically. Diane hands Christina a fresh tissue.</p><p>            “You should go home, Chrissy. I would if my cramps were that bad,” Diane explains.</p><p>            “I don’t have any ibuprofen, or I’d bum you some,” Michelle explains.</p><p>Christina’s phone vibrates in her pocket and she reads the text from Bucky. He had listed the name of the medication her mother usually took for cramps, explaining that it helped with bloating as well. Her face heated as she blushed, shoving her phone into her pocket. Bucky had ended the text by asking her again if she wanted him to come get her.</p><p>            “Chrissy, go to the nurse,” Diane states. Christina shakes her head as the bell rings. She can hardly walk to the classroom as her friends continue to try and convince her to just go ask the nurse for some medicine. She felt so embarrassed and kept on. Until she was in the middle of the exam in the quiet classroom and the pain got so bad that she gasped and sat up straight in her seat. The teacher glanced at her curiously, a few heads turning.</p><p>            “Miss Barnes…is something wrong?” Mr. Kowalski asked. Christina swallowed hard as a few of her classmates started to stare at her. She felt a pooling sensation inside her underwear and just knew it was bad. She couldn’t answer the teacher’s question as another wave of pain hit her and she felt very nauseous suddenly. She stood up and abruptly passed out, feeling her head hit a desk nearby on the way down. When she came to, she was looking up at what she thought was her dad. Upon blinking a few times, she was able to confirm that it was him sitting beside her in the infirmary. She recognized the room immediately, as she had been here a few times when she tripped in volleyball and needed an ice pack.</p><p>            “Daddy?” Christina mumbled, wincing at the sharp pain in her back and in her head. Bucky looked relieved and promptly stopped talking on the phone, telling Cherise that Christina had just woken up. She wonders how long she had been unconscious, as it seemed to happen rather quickly. Perhaps her father had decided to come and get her after her exam, whether she wanted him to or not.</p><p>            “Hey, peanut. Take it easy,” he says, urging her to move slowly as she sits up. She glances down to find her pants stained and gasps.</p><p>            “Here,” Bucky says, pulling off his hoodie, “You can wrap this around your waist for now,” he explains. Christina starts to cry.</p><p>            “What’s wrong?”</p><p>            “These are my <em>favorite </em>pants,” she complains, slapping her hands on her knees in frustration.</p><p>            “It’s okay, sweetie. Mom will know how to save them,” Bucky reassures her. Christina snatches his sweater and holds it across her lap, hiding the mess. The nurse walks in with a glass of water and a small, clear plastic cup with two pills in it.</p><p>            “I’m sorry about your pants, sweetie. You could have come here and asked me for a pad,” the nurse explains. Christina glances at her dad in embarrassment.</p><p>            “I tried to get her to let me come pick her up, but she wanted to take her exam,” Bucky says.</p><p>            “Mr. Kowalski’s exams are tough,” the nurse explains to him, “Had a student in here with a migraine the other day because he was studying for <em>two days</em> straight without sleeping.”</p><p>            “I didn’t want to miss the exam,” Christina sighs, “I was ready to take it and get it over with.”</p><p>            “I know, baby. But you took a serious fall and you’re in a lot of pain. We have to get you to the ER to have your head checked,” Bucky explains.</p><p>            “Did you eat lunch, dear?” the nurse asks. Christina nods before the nurse hands her the pills.</p><p> </p><p>          In the car, Christina finds herself groaning in discomfort. She reclines the seat, knowing she’s ruining her dad’s sweater. But Bucky didn’t care about the sweater. He just wanted her to be comfortable. Christina thought back to all the times she saw him holding heating pads on her mother and suddenly she’s not as embarrassed. Her dad would do <em>anything</em> for her, and it showed. She was thankful that the doctor ruled her okay to go home and that Bucky washed the tub for her so that she could rest in the comfort of a bubble bath while he made her the grilled cheese she requested, able to smell it wafting up the stairs from the kitchen. He had come out of his and Cherise’s closet with a fresh box of organic pads for her and left them on the bathroom sink before leaving her in privacy to take a bath…</p><p>          As she limped into her parent’s room, she found her dad asleep while Cherise was sitting up in bed, texting, the TV muted ahead of them. Cherise gazed over at her with a smile, immediately sensing that her daughter needed her. Christina was holding her lower back with a frown, still blinking heavily, as it was almost one-thirty in the morning. Cherise quietly makes her way into the closet to grab the same brand of pads that Bucky had given to her the first time. Christina hated this time of the month more than anything, but she was glad to have such understanding parents who tried their best to make her comfortable. Cherise waited outside of the bathroom, fetching Christina a fresh pair of underwear, sitting at the side of her bed and stroking her hair while holding a heating pad to her lower back, in just the right spot, until she fell asleep.</p>
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